Fear and the COVID-19 rally round the flag: a panel study on political trust

Meer, Tom van der; Steenvoorden, Eefje; Ouattara, Ebe

doi:10.1080/01402382.2023.2171220

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In addition, we reveal that increases in trust are not only relevant for core state actors like national government and parliament, but include increases in trust toward various forms of media, the judiciary, and other non-state actors. Moreover, the educational disparities in increased trust match earlier findings on similar catch-up effects among other groups with traditionally lower levels of political trust (Eggers & Harding, 2021;Hegewald & Schraff, 2022;Van Der Meer et al, 2023).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Research on the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed socially stratified changes in political trust, with some studies highlighting variations in pandemic threat perception, linked to regional infection rates or high risk of exposure (Hegewald & Schraff, 2022;Weber et al, 2023) as well as psychological dispositions (Dietz et al, 2021;Erhardt et al, 2021;Van Der Meer et al, 2023). Relatedly, citizens with lower levels of political literacy portrayed larger increases in trust (Kestilä-Kekkonen et al, 2022).…”

Section: The Covid-19 Pandemic and Political Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Baekgaard et al (2023) argue that stricter containment policies signal government commitment to citizens' safety, increasing trust. Conversely, Schraff (2021) and Van Der Meer et al (2023) highlight fear of infection, driven by higher infection rates, as the primary driver of the rally effect -even when accounting for containment measures. However, none of these studies has investigated whether the stratified impact of containment measures (Kleinert et al, 2020;Zoch et al, 2021) has resulted in educational disparities in altered political trust.…”

Section: The Covid-19 Pandemic and Political Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from the overall increase in political trust, several studies have highlighted that trust changes vary according to socio-economic (e.g., Hegewald & Schraff, 2022;Weber et al, 2023) and psychological (e.g., Eggers & Harding, 2021;Erhardt et al, 2021;Van Der Meer et al, 2023). However, these studies were unable to fully account for or examine the conditions of individual-level heterogeneity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Educational Disparities in Trust Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2017-22)

Zoch,

Wamsler

2023

Preprint

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The pronounced increase in political trust at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with its stratified distribution, is well-documented, however, understanding the underlying mecha-nisms remains incomplete. Drawing on earlier research on identity theory and crisis vulnerabil-ity, this study focuses on educational attainment, arguing that trust changes should be more pronounced among those with lower educational levels. The analyses links high-quality estab-lished panel data from Germany (NEPS, 2017-2022, 21,021 person-years), surveying trust regarding state actors, non-state actors, and the media in two pre-crisis waves (2017/18, 2019/20) and two pandemic waves (2020/21, 2021/22), with county-level information on virus exposure and restriction measures.Results from fixed-effects regression models reveal a sharper initial trust increase among low-er-educated individuals, particularly in trust toward government institutions. However, this trend diminishes as the pandemic progresses. Although trust in government remains slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels, trust in the police or the media declined below pre-pandemic levels. Regional incidence rates, containment policies, changes in individual employment or family situation, or personal pandemic affectedness do not substantively explain to these changes. Conversely to education-based competencies like general perceptiveness and reason-ing, ICT literacy partly explains the observed educational disparities in increased trust, sug-gesting the relevance toward important Altogether, the findings highlight the role of educational attainment for social inequalities and associated attitude formation. From a broader perspective the results point towards the im-portance of how individuals’ access, assess and engage with information as well as the fram-ing and presentation of crises information, ultimately impacting individual-levels of political trust.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: The Covid-19 Pandemic and Political Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Covid-19 Pandemic and Political Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Educational Disparities in Trust Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2017-22)

Zoch,

Wamsler

2023

Preprint

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“…When it comes to the first potential reaction, the political support literature has provided consistent evidence in line with the rally-round-the-flag hypothesis (Kritzinger et al, 2021). Political support increases in response to dramatic international events or when a country faces an external threat (Hetherington and Nelson, 2003; van der Meer et al, 2023). This hypothesis has been tested by using different types of events that trigger the rally-round-the-flag, like terrorist attacks, COVID-19, foreign policy crises, or the outbreak of wars, and by focusing on different manifestations of political support: satisfaction with government, approval of the president/prime minister, or political trust (see Kritzinger et al, 2021, for an excellent overview).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The (null) effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Europeans’ attitudes toward democracy

Hernández,

Ares

2023

Research & Politics

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In this paper, we analyze the short-term impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Europeans’ attitudes toward democracy. For this purpose, we leverage the coincidence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 with the fieldwork of the European Social Survey in 10 countries. By means of an unexpected event during survey design, we analyze the impact of the invasion on 12 different attitudes toward democracy, including overt support for democracy, satisfaction with democracy, as well as the importance attributed to particular democratic principles. The results of this comprehensive analysis reveal that the invasion did not have a substantive impact on individuals’ attitudes toward democracy. The invasion of a neighboring democratic country by an autocratic power did not alter Europeans’ satisfaction with democracy, their support for this political regime, or the importance they attribute to different democratic principles.

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It’s Not a Lie if You Believe It: Donald Trump’s Gonzo Expertise as Dramaturgical Performance

Maratea

2024

Am Soc

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Fear and the COVID-19 rally round the flag: a panel study on political trust

Cited by 21 publications

References 33 publications

Educational Disparities in Trust Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2017-22)

Educational Disparities in Trust Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2017-22)

The (null) effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Europeans’ attitudes toward democracy

It’s Not a Lie if You Believe It: Donald Trump’s Gonzo Expertise as Dramaturgical Performance

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